My 10-month-old cat has flank pain & is acting clingy. What's wrong?

That does sound very worrisome. Unfortunately an injury to the spine is not something that we can diagnose by hearing the clinical signs. As you know, a back injury can be very serious. I recommend to get mittens in to see the veterinarian quickly. The doctor will be able to palpate the back and should get an idea as to if a back injury is likely. Pets can also get soft tissue muscle pulls, hip pain and a variety of other ailments that are not as serious as a spinal injury. The first step though is to get her checked out. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hello. It is impossible to say exactly what might be going on, but we should rule out the possibility of a bruised rib or small fracture. Your veterinarian may need to clip some hair down to the skin to see what things look like. It is good that everything else is well with her so it does not sound like there is anything serious. But if your vet suggests an x-ray, this might be a good idea. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I am sorry to hear that Aphrodite isn’t feeling well. She may have be nauseated, have back pain, urinary infection, or many other possibilities. Based on the level of discomfort I would encourage you to have her evaluated by a veterinarian as soon as possible. An emergency veterinarian tonight would be ideal, but at the latest tomorrow morning. After a thorough physical examination they will recommend diagnostics to help determine the diagnosis and create a treatment plan. Best of luck and I hope she improves soon. Thank you for using Pet Coach.

Poor CJ! It sounds like he is in pain if he's walking slower, struggling to lay down and get up, and cannot bend to clean himself. I would be concerned that he has a problem with his neck or back. It possible he was injured. My advice is to rest him tonight, and take him into a vet first thing in the morning. The vet can diagnose what is causing his pain, and can treat him for it. The vet can also prescribe pain medication as needed. Please do not give him any human pain medications, many are toxic to cats and are fatal if given. Best of luck.

Without seeing Autumn physically it is hard to pinpoint exactly what is going on. She may have jumped off of something and hurt her back or if you have another cat in the house she may have rough housed with them a little too hard. If she is still like this in the morning I would recommend a physical examination with a veterinarian to see if this is pain related or something else. I hope Autumn feels better soon and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Any type of abdominal or muscular pain has to be suspected. Depending on what area of the body is painful, this can give you some clues as to what is causing the pain. If there are no obvious wounds on Izzie's skin then I would suspect an internal injury. It takes a lot for a cat to show pain so the fact that Izzie is this symptomatic should raise concern. I would recommend taking her to your veterinarian asap so they can localize exactly where the pain is coming from and hopefully implement treatment for her. Don't be tempted to give her any human pain medication, because these are toxic in cats. She is best treated at the vet.

The chance that there is a blood clot contributing to these clinical signs is very unlikely. Typically, when something like this happens, your cat would be in absolutely uncontrollable pain, screaming and crying like nothing you have every heard. You might also notice that the feet and limbs are noticeable cold. This doesn't sound like the case. In all likelihood, Autumn simply sprained or strained something and is now experiencing some discomfort as a result. One other cause of shifting or sporadic lameness in the limbs are tick borne diseases such as Lyme disease. While these are far more common in dogs, they can definitely occur in cats as well. Depending on your geographic region, the type of tick borne diseases that are most common will vary considerably. Hope this makes sense. Get Autumn into the vet for some examination if the symptoms don't subside in the next day or so. Just don't try and give any over the counter pain medication at home as there are none that are safe for cats.